Стандарты и правила оформления релизов в warez-сцене

Standards in the warez scene are defined by groups of people who have been involved in its activities for several years and have established connections to large groups. The standards committee usually cycles several drafts and finally decides which is best suited for the purpose, and then releases the draft for approval. Once the draft has been e signed by several bigger groups, it becomes ratified and accepted as the current standard. There are separate standards for each category of releases. All groups are expected to know and follow the standards. Formerly, the size of volumes were limited by the RAR file naming scheme, which produced extensions rar, r00 and so on through r99. This allowed for 101 volumes in a single release before the naming switched to s00, s01 and so on. For example, a DVD R image (4.37 GiB), split into 101 pieces, produces volumes smaller than 50 MB. The new RAR naming format, name. part001. rar, removes the limit, although the individual split archives continue to be 50 MB for historical reasons and because the old RAR naming format is still being widely used. Different compression levels are used for each type of material being distributed. The reason for this is that some material compresses much better than others. Movies and MP3 files are already compressed with near maximum capacity. Repacking them would just create larger files and increase decompression time. Ripped movies are still packaged due to the large file size, but compression is disallowed and the RAR format is used only as a container. Because of this, modern playback software can easily play a release directly from the packaged files, and even stream it as the release is downloaded (if the network is fast enough). MP3 and music video releases are an exception in that they are not packaged into a single archive like almost all other sections. These releases have content that is not further compressible without loss of quality, but also have small enough files that they can be transferred reliably without breaking them up. Since these releases rarely have large numbers of files, leaving them unpackaged is more convenient and allows for easier scripting. For example, scripts can read ID3 information from MP3s and sort releases based on those contents.

Rules for naming files and folders are an important part of the standards. Correctly named folders make it easier to maintain clean archives and unique filenames allow dupecheck to work properly. There exists a defined character set which can be used in naming of the folders. The selected character set is chosen to minimize problems due to the many platforms a release may encounter during its distribution. Since FTP servers, operating systems or file systems may not allow special characters in file or directory names, only a small set of characters is allowed. As a note, spaces are explicitly disallowed in current standards and are substituted with underscores or periods (full stops)
There is no formal record documenting correct times for all releases. Depending on geographical location and the timing of releases, release sites receive software releases at slightly different times. Release times in any single source may vary by as much as two weeks. Flaws that aren't immediately visible can be found during testing of the material, such as a broken crack or a bad serial. These sanctions are social in nature and can be initiated by anyone within the community.

There are several standards to release movies, TV show episodes and other video material to the scene. VCD releases use the less efficient MPEG 1 format, are low quality, but can be played back on most standalone DVD players. SVCD releases use MPEG 2 encoding, have half the video resolution of DVDs and can also be played back on most DVD players. DVD R releases use the same format as retail DVD Videos, and are therefore larger in size. Finally DivX, Xvid, H.264/MPEG 4 AVC and recently HEVC releases use the much more efficient MPEG standards. Generally, only middle to top end DVD players can play back DivX or Xvid files, while Blu ray players are required to handle H.264 files. There are many different formats because the whole thing was always a function of players, codec development and the pursuit of the best possible quality in terms of size. This results in a series of evolutionary stages and improvements that have been introduced gradually. The only film format that hasn't changed since the early days is the DVDR. The Scene still holds on to this format but it's becoming less important due to Blu rays being the main source for retail releases.

Scene rules require the releasing group to spread theatrical VCDs in bin/. cue files that can be burned on a CD. Although often the CD size is dictated by the length of the movie or video. One movie typically uses two CDs, although length may force the release to be a 3 or 4 CD release. The source of these theatrical releases is typically analog, such as CAM, telecine or telesync releases (movies recorded by a camera in theatres, often with external audio sources). VCDs from other sources such as DVD, VHS, TV, Pay Per View specials, Porn or Anime may also be released in the mpg or asf format. DVD and VHS rips are only allowed if there was no screener released before. The scene VCDs popped up in 1998, but digital unlicensed versions of films already appeared in early 1997 on private FTP networks. In 1999 there were 15 to 20 groups. Because of its low quality, VCD releases declined in favor of SVCD and XviD. VCDs are often larger than these higher quality files, making VCDs even less attractive. VCDs once used for music videos got their own set of standards on October 1, 2002.

XviD used for standard definition English television releases has been a ruleless world. In 2007, a document was released that "intended to bring a level playing field to the TV XviD scene and attempt to put down some rules to end some of the controversy that has plagued us in recent years", but it was only a draft. On January 1, 2011, a rule set written specifically for UK TV was released, taking into consideration various factors which differ from other regions. The introduction of HDTV and the availability of high definition source material has resulted in the release of video files that exceed the maximum allowed resolution by the TDX rules, which anticipated DVD Video rips as the ultimate source. Due to a missing standard these releases follow different rules. They are usually tagged as HR HDTV and use half the resolution of 1080i (960 × 540 px, vertically cropped to 528 or 544 px). Some releases also use a resolution of 1024 × 576 px to provide a proper aspect ratio of 16:9. Occasionally, shows (usually animated shows) aired in standard definition (PDTV) are often uploaded as HR (high resolution) PDTV using the H264 codec which offers much better compression than XviD, allowing a higher resolution in a file the same size as an XviD encoded video using a standard definition source.

On October 17, 2013, the first standard definition ruleset for retail sources was released. A day later there was a revision that fixed some examples. The MKV container must be used. It is mandatory to support file streaming and playing from RARs. CRF must be used. A photograph as proof must be included. 81 groups signed the document.

On June 24, 2009, five groups released the first rule set specifically designed for x264 sport releases: TXSRS2K9. The idea was that the x264 encoder would be more suitable than Xvid. Some days after previewing the rule set, a rebuttal was released with concerns about the decisions made and them being in conflict with the high definition TV X264 rule set. aAF called the rules unofficial nonsense and said that respected groups would not be following them. Only NOsegmenT and KICKOFF have released standard definition x264 sport rips under these rules. The following year, a rule set for Xvid sports releases appeared: TXSRS10. Its aim is to improve the overall quality of sports releases while retaining the compatibility that Xvid provides. It should bring standardization and get rid of restrictions applicable to the ruleless world of TV XVID. Twelve groups signed the standards, including two of the original five of the x264 rule set. The SD x264 TV Releasing Standards 2012 also cover sport releases, making the previous standards obsolete. This ruleset targets HD DVD and Blu ray sourced 720p and 1080p movie and TV show rips. The releases are made available in a Matroska mkv container, using the x264 encoder. The file size must be a multiple of 1120 MiB. There is a second ruleset from 2008 for x264 releases that has many similarities to the previous one, but it concentrates on BD5 and BD9 releases. The purpose of these releases is that the initial mkv file can be burned as a Blu ray image to a single or double layer DVD R. The mkv file accompanying this kind of release is 200–300 MB smaller than a similar release following the other ruleset due to the overhead of the Blu ray image that will be created. Around May 2012, the stream of BD9 releases came to a halt. 2011 only had around thirty BD5 releases.

On August 13, 2009, the first version of the standard was released. This standard is only a recommendation for anime from Blu ray and its purpose is to improve quality over the then current HDX standard. The document reads that anime was always something special for the video codec experts at Doom9, as without anime there wouldn't be VirtualDub or many other video related tools. This is why they decided to put out new standard to enjoy almost lossless anime quality. The French scene had rules for anime releases years earlier. The latest French ruleset for anime is from 2011.

In 2016, a new standard was introduced for web sourced files, covering standard and high definition video. Web based streaming and video on demand services have increased in popularity. They were initially used for missed broadcasts, but it evolved into a legitimate logo free exclusive source for original content.

The scene requires DVD Video releases to fit on a 4.7 GB DVD R. Hence many released movies are not 1:1 copies of the retail DVDs. The latest standards revision is TDRS2K10. This ruleset appeared only two months after the 2009 ruleset, which has an addendum released to clarify a rule because of some confusion. The 2010 ruleset seems to have more similarities with TDRS2K5 than with the previous TDRS2K9 ruleset. According to the first nuke, the signing groups are crap. This resulted in a nukewar. Few days later, an addendum was released. According to XeoN VorTeX on October 31, 2002, a milestone in DVDR ripping was reached with the COMPLETE release of The Matrix. The DVD was generally regarded as the most complex DVD on the market. Only a movie only rip was available. The new rip included things such as the white rabbit. Nowadays releases are in DVD5 or DVD9 size, have a menu available and are encoded with CCE. Hence not all released movies are 1:1 copies of the retail Blu rays, although those releases exist and are tagged COMPLETE. BLURAY.

The current Music video Council standard is version 6.0. X264 must be used in an mkv container in combination with an MP2, MP3, AC3, or DTS audio track.

Both MP3 and FLAC releases can optionally include M3U playlist files.

At the start of the MP3 scene in 1995, there was little organization or standardization. Other formats such as AAC or Vorbis are currently not allowed. In 2009, new rules were introduced. Homemade releases are forbidden. Every release needs an ID3 v1.1 AND ID3 v2 tag. Extra material that is available on the source material is allowed to be released. Flash storage mediums are allowed as sources to accommodate some retail releases made exclusively in those formats. The early MP3 release groups, 1996–1997, were considered "lamers", bottom feeders. In 2000, the former leader of Rabid Neurosis, Al Capone, posted a letter to the scene on the RNS website, complaining how the mp3 scene became more like the warez scene during its first 4 years.

+ FLAC standards Date Standard 2011 10 02 v1.0 2011 10 10 v1.1 2012 05 01 v2.0 2014 05 17 v2.1 2016 06 01 v3.0
An early scene release came in 2004 when the group ARA released Metallica's fifth performance in Gothenburg as FLAC files. These lossless files can be bought on LiveMetallica. com, a service that allows fans to buy and download files of soundboard recordings. From 2007 on some early FLAC releases came from justice, a group that already used APE for lossless music the years before. That same year the Polish group BFPMP3 thought to start promoting the FLAC standard with some internal releases. Single purpose groups such as judge, FLACH or CDDA created only a handful of releases in the years before the first ruleset. On October 2, 2011, the scene introduced a FLAC category by releasing a first ruleset. Eight days later an updated revision was released. A lot of releases are being nuked for various cosmetic flaws. Early 2016, anonymous sceners voiced a concern that nukers lack technical understanding to nuke improperly ripped vinyl sources and showed examples of how the ruleset gets twisted or misinterpreted for minor issues. The release got nuked within the hour after pre by ZoNeNET with just invalid. proper as reason. In June later that year, 4 years after version 2.0, a new ruleset was made to address misinterpretations in the wording and to update some rules. The group CUSTODES mentioned in their farewell message that the FLAC ruleset isn't professional enough to archive music in the best quality possible.

Application releases are usually split in two different categories, 0 day and ISO apps. LineZer0 indicated in the nfo file of their 20,000th release that they will change their packing ways to RAR/SFV and put the old ZIP/RAR/DIZ packaging to rest by the first of April 2012. They strongly encouraged other groups to do the same. After some threats to release information on individuals, Lz0 returned to the old packaging ways for the time being until a new ruleset can be put in place. The Minor Update (MU) rule is unique to 0 day releases. It makes sure that each month not more than one release of the same application is released. Major updates do not follow this rule. The exception to the rule happens when a group motivates in their NFO that the changes are considered to be a major update. PDA rules require folder naming to define which application and version the release contains. Also required are CPU type, operating system and cracktype. Optional information such as language is expected, if the release is non English. Packaging follows 0day guidelines. Generally lax security, simple programming and small filesizes make mobile software an attractive target for infringers. In more recent times it covers other portable devices such as iPod, iPhone, iPad or systems running Android. ISO applications are usually either in BIN/CUE or ISO format. Allowed media is CD and DVD, but release can be smaller than the media size. Applications are required to contain working key or keygen to generate valid serial. Patch cracking is also required, which is used to bypass hardware protection, such as serial or USB dongle. Some groups signed a Sample CD Scene Protocol for better quality sample discs.

This is the scene for game releases that are changed to minimize the size of the distributed files. A first ten point document was made by "The Faction" in 1998. The grouping that created the rules that should be adhered to, and the rules themselves, were disbanded the following year. The NSA rules, or "the new rules", outlines the codes of conduct regarding game ripping. Releasing can be done in two fields: games and applications. It can also be done in two ways: it is possible to release disc images or groups can "rip". In the process of ripping, groups remove things such as introductory movies, multiple texture modes, big sound files and the like. A draft version of Standard ISO Rules (S. I. R.) 2010 was included in TGSC #43. At the start of 2021 a new ruleset for PC games became active: After approximately 20 years without new, written rules for the PC games section the leading Game ISO groups assembled to collaborate on a long overdue modernization. A game must be authored into an ISO file when created for Microsoft Windows, but releases for other operating systems may use a dmg Apple Disk Image file or even skip the image file altogether before packaging in RARs. A limited time exclusivity right for game updates is introduced to the group that wins the race. Digital distribution of games causes the amount of updates to increase considerably which results in little new data and a lot of duplicate content in the game updates. During this 60 day window it's at the group's discretion to join these updates as they see fit. Outside the Scene repacked games are in high demand. FitGirl, one of the leading names in this niche, often uses the scene release as source to create a better compressed version to save considerable bandwidth.

DOX is an abbreviation of documents or documentation (manuals). This category includes video game add ons such as No CDs, cracked updates, keygens, covers, trainers or cheat codes. DOX releases are amongst the rarest releases in the scene. This is due to their small size. In October 2007, TNT (The Nova Team) noted in the nfo of their 750th release that only the groups DEViANCE and FAiRLiGHT managed to reach the same amount of DOX releases.

The console scene survived decades without rules. It's remarkable that a release must be pred no later than 30 days after retail date. Besides the 0 day standards, most other rulesets nowadays don't have such limitations. An example of a ruleset that did have such a limitation would be the deprecated TDX 2000 ruleset, but in the subsequent ruleset (TDX2k1) this limitation was removed. There are no written standards for the other console scenes. The first games released on a certain platform are often not playable because the console isn't cracked at the time. The games are released as one zipfile following the old traditional 8.3 naming convention. No folders were used.

On June 23, 2000, the first ripped Dreamcast game, Dead or Alive 2, was released by Utopia., this was a CDRWIN ISO image (bin/cue) like in the PC game ISO scene. The day before, Utopia released a Dreamcast BootCD that was capable of booting copies and imports on a non chipped standard consumer model. Less than two months later, when Kalisto released the first self bootable game, Dynamite Cop, the game was a Padus DiscJuggler (CDI) image. Later that month, the first copy protected game, Ultimate Fighting Championship, was released by Kalisto. Almost all releases that followed were released as a CDI image and thus became the de facto standard. When Kalisto announced their retirement in the DC scene, they had released more than 66% of all Dreamcast releases. Two days later, a new group called Echelon picked up where Kalisto left off. This group released Evil Twin: Cyprien's Chronicles their 188th and last Dreamcast game release on April 30, 2002. On October 12, 2000, PARADOX, another big and respected scene group, released the first trainer for the Dreamcast. Two weeks after that, they released their first game, Shadowman, for the Dreamcast console with an intro just to prove that we can do neat DC releases as well. Besides games and dox, also emulators and Linux distros were released in the DC scene.

Xbox releases are by convention in the XISO format, a slight modification of the DVD ISO format. DVDRips of Xbox games were released so they could fit on a single CD. A lot of the first Xbox games were released by the group ProjectX on May 3, 2002. These first releases worked on a developer Xbox, but if it would be playable on retail versions was unknown at the time because no modchips existed yet. There are more than 4400 Xbox releases released in the scene.

PlayStation 2 releases must be in standard DVD ISO format.

On June 12, 2003, the first game for the GameCube, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, was released by STARCUBE. As of May 2016, there are more than 3100 NGC releases released in the scene.

On December 8, 2005, the first full game for the Xbox 360 was released in the scene by the warez group PI. Need for Speed: Most Wanted was the first of a batch of three games released that day by PI. A couple of minutes before that, they released an open source tool to extract Xbox 360 dumps. As of January 2017, there are more than 6700 Xbox 360 releases released in the scene. The image of the Xbox 360 game is a iso with a dvd file. The rars are split to volumes of 50 MB for DVD5 disks or 100 MB for DVD9 disks and must use compression.

On November 25, 2006, PARADOX released the first PS3 ISO. The PS3 ISOs are now fully playable on a jailbroken PS3. As of January 2017, there were more than 4,800 PS3 releases in the scene. A first ruleset for the PlayStation 3 section was released on June 10, 2011. Shortly afterwards it was voided in classic scene style: "These rules dont mean shit you asshats." and the original rules were nuked for inadequate. and. unnecessary. ruleset not. signed. by. all. listed. groups see. Response. to. The. Official. PlayStation3. Ruleset.2011. PS3. A new "VOID" ruleset was released the day after and was nuked for no. valid. rebuttal. given not. all. grps. need. to. sign follow. the. new. ruleset. The better response followed a couple of days later.

Wii releases must be in standard DVD ISO format. PARADOX released the first Wii image on December 12, 2006. The game was Red Steel. On April 14, 2008, BlaZe was the first group to release a Virtual Console title. This emulated SNES Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest finally had a proper dump after its fourth release more than a year later. These DLC releases are tagged VC or WiiWare and exist of a packed WAD file. A large amount of these first releases were nuked. The main nuke reason was modified. ticket. info. Example:. Dupe or bad dump are other common reasons to receive a nuke. Another reason would be not trucha signed resulting not to be able to install. In January 2017, more than 7800 releases for the Wii were released in the scene.

On May 3, 2013, the group VENOM released the first game for the Wii U: Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth. The disk image is a iso file in Wii U Optical Disc format (WUOD), Nintendo's proprietary disc format for the Wii U. Like other console scene firsts, the game isn't playable on the console yet. This first scene release was a few days after the Wii U was announced to be allegedly hacked by the mod chip developer WiiKey. Based on the file date of the RAR archives, VENOM had already created the ISO file more than a month before pre. This is the point in time when they first made the files available within the scene through their affiliated sites.

On May 31, 2014, the group WaYsTeD brought the first PlayStation 4 game to the scene: Watch Dogs. Just like with other console firsts, the 25 GB iso file is not currently playable. It has the same file structure as the PlayStation 3 games. Within two months, some other groups started doing raw image dumps too. More than 3 years later on September 27, 2017, the group KOTF (Knights of the Fallen) released Grand Theft Auto V as the first playable decrypted game dump, DARKSiDERS on PC GAMES section are saying that this KOTF release would not been possible without them. As KOTF did not had good enough topsite at the time, sites IRC channel announced pre as: "DARKSiDERS RELEASED Grand. Theft. Auto. V. READNFO. PS4 KOTF". As the game was released from the DARKSiDERS pre directory, the release was given to DARKSiDERS on behalf of KOTF. Its though unclear how these groups are related, but many in the Scene remember that pre announcement mentioning also DARKSiDERS to the confusion of many. Among the first releases were games such as Assassin's Creed IV and Far Cry 4, with RAR volumes of 250 MB and even 500 MB sized parts. The outdated firmware that was required to play these games was a major drawback.

A handheld game console is a lightweight, portable electronic device with a built in screen, game controls, speakers and replaceable and or rechargeable batteries or battery pack. Handheld game consoles are run on machines of small size allowing people to carry them and play them at any time or place. Unlike video game consoles, the controls, screen and speakers are all part of a single unit.

Game Boy Advance releases are in their native ROM format (. gba). However, like the 0day releases, due to their small size, these are often compressed into RAR files and then compressed into ZIP format; otherwise, they are simply compressed into ZIP format.

The Nintendo DS scene started out as an extension of the Game Boy Advance scene, and carried forward with mostly the same set of rules. On May 31, 2010, a first ruleset was released with the goal of establishing a clear and concise listing of what should be expected of a valid Nintendo DS release. "Having an official list to reference should prevent needless nuking, and clean up what is at present a cluttered and confused scene." 7 groups signed the rules. The day after, a second "official" ruleset was released but was nuked later on, although it is deemed to be the most relevant according to scenerules. irc. gs. Multiple of the 18 groups listed did not agree to sign the rules. A scene notice has been released by "Concerned Retired NDS/GBA Scene Founding Members" concerning the issue of the two rulesets. Nintendo DS releases are in their native ROM format (. neo or nds). The Scene has been doing zip from the GBA days, The packaging is done with compressed RAR files and an SFV for verification. As of October 2017, there are more than 2400 3DS releases.

Sony PSP releases are by convention specified as FULL UMD or UMD RIP, meaning some parts were removed either out of non necessity, or to fit it to a certain sized memory stick. You can play an ISO with custom firmware or an emulator such as devhook. PARADOX released the first retail PSP game on May 4, 2005. In December 2006, the scene started releasing old PSX games that can be played with the official emulator on the PSP. These games are bought from the PlayStation Store with a PS3. Depending on the releasegroup, they are tagged PSXPSP, PSX PSP, PSX. To. PSP, PSX. FOR. PSP or PS1 For PSP. On May 19, 2006, PARADOX returned to the PSP scene to release a +9 trainer just to prove that trainers for Sony's handheld are possible. Since then, no other group or person has publicly released any trainers. See also PSP Scene and PSP Piracy on pocketheaven. com for more background and history. + PSP Movie Releasing Standards Date Standard 2005 06 17 The. PSP. Movie. Releasing. Standards.2005. READ. NFO PSPCouncil 2005 12 12 The. PSP. Movie. Releasing. Standards.2006 PSPCouncil
Unlike the games, there are standards for how to release movies for the PSP. Because Sony killed the format, the UMDMovie releases came to a halt in May 2007. 3 years later the group ABSTRAKT released some more UMD Movies.

The first game release for the PlayStation Vita in the scene, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, was done by the group PSiCO on February 8, 2016. This was almost 4 years after the introduction of the PS Vita in Europe and North America. It was dumped from a PS Vita NVG game cartridge and the PFS encryption layer was removed since this data is not needed to become playable in the future. Releases are tagged with PSV in the directory name. There were already a handful of other PSV tagged releases before, but these contained covers. The first releases were made to be used with the Cobra BlackFin dongle for the PlayStation Vita handheld, using the psv (BlackFin) format for its data dump. After the release of the Vitamin dumper in August 2016 following the HENkaku homebrew enabler, there weren't many new releases immediately after because of issues with this new tool. A couple of weeks later the first ruleset was signed by 4 groups. The best tool to make a copy of the game cartridge data at that moment was MaiDumpTool in combination with Vitamin 2.0 when needed. The file format used for these newer dumps is vpk: a ZIP containing the decrypted files of the game folder.

Other handheld platforms that had games released by the Scene include Neo Geo Pocket, Neo Geo Pocket Color, WonderSwan, WonderSwan Color, Tapwave Zodiac, Gizmondo, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and N Gage.